Relocation to Amsterdam

Table of contents

On 20 November 2017, European Union (EU) Member States decided to relocate the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to Amsterdam, the Netherlands, as a result of the United Kingdom's (UK) withdrawal from the EU. The Agency immediately began working with the Dutch authorities to prepare for the move and take up its operations in Amsterdam on 30 March 2019 at the latest.

EMA and the Netherlands have agreed a joint governance structure to steer and oversee the relocation project, with plans to progress activities within individual work streams dealing with EMA's temporary premises, its permanent premises, staff relocation, financial and legal aspects, removal and logistics and external communication.

Tracking tool

EMA has published a tracking tool showing the main milestones and deliverables for the Agency's move to Amsterdam:

The tool provides a general overview of the main milestones for each work stream (except external communication, which is an ad-hoc activity) and provides further detail, highlighting clearly if EMA is on track to meet the various deliverables.

The tracking tool is a living document, which EMA will update every month. For best results viewing the PDF document, use Acrobat Reader or Chrome web browser.

Temporary and permanent premises

EMA's new permanent headquarters, a tailor-made building in the Zuidas business district of Amsterdam, are planned for completion in November 2019.

The building has been commissioned by the Dutch government and will be built by the Central Government Real Estate Agency (CGREA) together with a consortium of construction companies. The laying of the foundation stone was marked with a ceremony on 28 May 2018.

The Dutch government has offered temporary premises to EMA, the Spark building in the Sloterdijk area of Amsterdam, from 1 January 2019 until its permanent building is completed. This will allow EMA to move all staff to Amsterdam before the end of March 2019 and ensure EMA's business continuity in Amsterdam until its new permanent building is ready.

Update: A delegation of EMA's Management Board Board visited both sites on 7 November 2018 and was reassured by the progress made by the Dutch authorities to deliver both premises on time and to a high quality. EMA has published a report of its visit:

EMA made available the results of a staff retention survey carried out in September 2017 as part of business continuity planning, after staff had the opportunity to study the Member State bids. For more information, see: